St John Damascene on Holy Images (πρὸς τοὺς διαβάλλοντας τᾶς ἁγίας εἰκόνας). Followed by Three Sermons on the Assumption (κοίμησις)John of Damascus, Saint
Religion
St John Damascene on Holy Images (πρὸς τοὺς διαβάλλοντας τᾶς ἁγίας εἰκόνας). Followed by Three Sermons on the Assumption (κοίμησις)
John of Damascus, Saint
Icons -- Cult; Idols and images -- Worship; Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint -- Assumption -- Sermons -- Early works to 1800
These injunctions were given to the Jews on account of their proneness
to idolatry. Now we, on the contrary, are no longer in leading strings.
Speaking theologically, it is given to us to avoid superstitious error,
to be with God in the knowledge of the truth, to worship God alone, to
enjoy the fulness of His knowledge. We have passed the stage of infancy,
and reached the perfection of manhood. We receive our habit of mind from
God, and know what may be imaged and what may not. The Scripture says,
‘You have not seen the likeness of Him.’ What wisdom in the law-giver.
How depict the invisible? How picture the inconceivable? How give
expression to the limitless, the immeasurable, the invisible? How give a
form to immensity? How paint immortality? How localise mystery? It is
clear that when you contemplate God, who is a pure spirit, becoming man
for your sake, you will be able to clothe Him with the human form. When
the Invisible One becomes visible to flesh, you may then draw a likeness
of His form. When He who is a pure spirit, without form or limit,
immeasurable in the boundlessness of His own nature, existing as God,
takes upon Himself the form of a servant in substance and in stature,
and a body of flesh, then you may draw His likeness, and show it to
anyone willing to contemplate it. Depict His ineffable condescension,
His virginal birth, His baptism in the Jordan, His transfiguration on
Thabor, His all-powerful sufferings, His death and miracles, the proofs
of His Godhead, the deeds which He worked in the flesh through divine
power, His saving Cross, His Sepulchre, and resurrection, and ascent
into heaven. Give to it all the endurance of engraving and colour. Have
no fear or anxiety; worship is not all of the same kind. Abraham
worshipped the sons of Emmor, impious men in ignorance of God, when he
bought the double cave for a tomb. Jacob worshipped his brother Esau and
Pharao, the Egyptian, but on the point of his staff⁴ He worshipped, he
did not adore. Josue and Daniel worshipped an angel of God; they did not
adore him. The worship of latreia is one thing, and the worship which is
given to merit another. Now, as we are talking of images and worship,
let us analyse the exact meaning of each. An image is a likeness of the
original with a certain difference, for it is not an exact reproduction
of the original. Thus, the Son is the living, substantial, unchangeable
Image of the invisible God, bearing in Himself the whole Father, being
in all things equal to Him, differing only in being begotten by the
Father, who is the Begetter; the Son is begotten. The Father does not
proceed from the Son, but the Son from the Father. It is through the
Son, though not after Him, that He is what He is, the Father who
generates. In God, too, there are representations and images of His
future acts,—that is to say, His counsel from all eternity, which is
ever unchangeable. That which is divine is immutable; there is no change
in Him, nor shadow of change.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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